Al-Bashir and his accompanying delegation Tuesday arrived in Kuwait on a two-day official visit upon an invitation from the Kuwaiti Emir. They were received at Kuwait airport by the Emir and a number of senior officials.

The two sides held a round of talks on bilateral relations besides regional and international issues of common concern and they are expected to sign a number of agreements on joint cooperation in the various domains.

Also, the meetings discussed Kuwait’s support for the Arab food security plan that was approved by the Arab leaders at their recent meeting in Amman.

During the meetings of the 3rd Arab Economic and Social Development Summit in Riyadh in 2013, al-Bashir launched an initiative to achieve Arab food security through offering investment opportunities in agriculture and livestock in Sudan.

Last February, Sudan’s Investment Minister Mudathir Abdel-Ghani said his country offered 220 investment projects to achieve the food security plan, pointing that Arab agricultural and livestock investment in Sudan represents 85% of the total foreign investment in the two sectors.

BAHRAIN’s VISIT

Meanwhile, Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour Monday said al-Bashir will fly to Bahrain after his visit to Kuwait at the invitation of Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa.

Ghandour told reporters that al-Bashir and Al Khalifa will hold bilateral talks but he didn’t give any further details.

It is noteworthy that al-Bashir is accompanied by the minister of the presidency Fadl Abdallah Fadl, Foreign Minister, Ibrahim Ghandour, Finance Minister Badr al-Din Mahmoud and Minister of Water Resources, Electricity and Dams Moataz Moussa.

Sudan’s relations with the Gulf States have witnessed a thaw since late 2015 after years of tensions over Khartoum’s close ties with Tehran.

Al-Bashir arrived in the Bahrain’s capital Manama where he was welcomed by Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa. He arrived from Kuwait where he held talks with the Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

Following a meeting with Al-Khalifa, al-Bashir confirmed to the official SUNA that the GCC countries would sign a strategic partnership agreement with Sudan. So, the Red Sea country will strengthen economic and trade ties with the Gulf countries.

In a meeting with the Sudanese community in Kuwait on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour disclosed the partnership deal and said an agreement will be signed during a meeting of GCC foreign ministers to be held soon.

The GCC countries have signed two similar agreements with the other monarchy regimes in Jordan and Morocco. The partnership includes financial aid, investments security and military cooperation.

Sudan’s active participation in the Saudi-led partnership military alliance waging war against the Iran-supported Shiite Houthi in Yemen and the massive agricultural investments in the Red Sea country prompted the partnership agreement.

In an interview with the Kuwait News Agency on Wednesday Ghandour said: "Sudan has prepared a list of 220 development projects of which 79 ones were good to go". He further expressed hope that Kuwait would participate in providing support to these ventures.

Bashir discussed the Arab food security initiative which calls to invest in Sudan agricultural projects with Al-Sabah and Al-Khalifa. The other GCC countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the Arab United Emirates have already invested in these projects.

Conclusion

The objective of this strategic alliance with the Saudis and the Gulf Emeriti is to transform the Sudan into the virtual breadbasket for the Sunni Arab confederation in the Middle East. This economic integration plan would imply support for the strategic goal of the Khartoum regime’s Arab Coalition plan for the Sudan that President Bashir hopes to conclude by 2020. That plan’s objective is the ethnic cleansing of indigenous people in Darfur, Nuba Mountains, South Kordofan and the Blue Nile Region with replacement by Arab tribal settlers from the Janjaweed peace force and foreign Jihadi fighters.

Tens of billions of dollars of Saudi and Emeriti funded projects announced at the Arab League Summit and being concluded in April 2017 provides economic incentives for fulfillment of Bashir’s Jihad and Caliphate plans for the Sudan and ultimately the Sahel region. This upwelling of Sunni Arab support for the Sudan followed President al-Bashir’s switch of alliance in 2014 from the Shiite Islamic Republic of Iran.

The trigger for this strategic investment program may have been signaled by the partial lifting of long term US sanctions against the Bashir regime by the outgoing Obama Administration just prior to the inauguration of President Trump on January 20, 2017.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Jerry Gordon is a Senior Editor at the New English Review.

Lt. Gen Abakar M. Abdallah is Chairman of the Sudan United Movement (SUM) and a native Darfuri of the Zagawa tribe. He is a 23 year veteran officer of the Chadian Army, graduate of the US Army Intelligence School at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, the US Army War College and the National Defense University counterterrorism program of Fort McNair, Washington, DC.